Tuesday, July 23, 2013

I'm so glad to hear that you all made it home safe! It must be really weird to have Syd back home after over a year and a half. That seems so weird to me. I dont want to go home! How is she doing? Is she still reading her scriptures? Tell her that she cant slack off. She needs to stay strong!

This week was really long and really hard. We had a really hard time getting into peoples houses to teach and just about everything fell through. We are also having a hard time finding new people to teach. But this Sunday we received a few refferals from the ward and we will visit them this week.

We did have one really good thing happen last night. We were going to visit Maria Eduarda to watch the Joseph Smith movie with them. When we got there, no one was there. It was so hard because we knew that we were just going to spend the night walking in the street trying to find people. Then we remembered one great thing. A member told us to come over to get a cake that they had made for us. So we got our vigor and vim back and started walking to the members house. When we got there.....they werent home either. It was so sad and I told my companion that I was just going to walk as slow as I could and maybe we would get home at 9. It was about 7:30 haha. Then all of a sudden, a man started running after us and yelling. I got scared and almost took off but then I heard that he was yelling, "Elders wait!" So we talked to him and he said that he was a less-active member and had moved into the ward about a month ago. He wanted to mark a date with us to go visit him and help him to come back to church! He also said that he has a sister who isnt a member! It was the miracle that we were waiting for after all of the work we did this week. And all thanks to our desire to eat cake haha. I know that the Lord is watching over us and that when we work our hardest, He rewards us. Oh, and we ended up getting dinner and a cake later that night :)

This transfer has gone by so fast. Next week we will have transfers and I really dont want to leave Boa Vista yet. I am hoping that Pres. Monteiro will at least leave the zone leaders where they are. I really want to stay here one more transfer. But, I will go where the Lord wants me to go.

I hope you are all having a great time with Syd! Its weird to think that I am the only one out here from the family. But that wont last long :) A man named Thiago Silva will probably send you an email soon. He is in my ward here and he served in Ribeirão Preto. He really wants to talk to Scotty and tell him a little about how it is there.

I love you all and I know that I am doing exactly what the Lord wants me to do. Sometimes its really hard but one thing keeps me going. My testimony of the Book of Mormon. If that book is true then this whole work is true and the promises that we have from the Lord are true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

Wow. I cant believe this day finally got here. Syd is finishing up and everyone is in Europe! Thats crazy. But its still not as good as South America! Its like America, but south ;)

Maria Eduarda was baptized yesterday! She was so excited and there were tons of members at the baptism. She chose me to baptize her and the water was so hot! Its freezing here so I was a little worried that the water would be cold so I let it heat up for a long time. But when we went in it felt like we were cooking! But it was still really good. She was so happy and her mom cried the whole time. We were going to have 2 baptisms but Cesar still isnt ready. He hasnt quite let go of smoking. So we are going to work a lot harder with him and we are planning a ward fast just for him this coming Sunday. I love this area and I never want to leave. The members here are like family to me. We were able to speak in church yesterday and I got to finish my talk on the joy of missionary work. My goal was to make at least a few people cry. I told them about how I love baseball and how happy I was when I played and then I talked about Oswaldo and Marinas baptisms and then their sealing. When I looked up at the ward, I saw that over half of the ward was in tears. I almost laughed haha but the Spirit was so strong and we got a lot of compliments about out talks. This ward is about to catch fire and we are going to start baptizing a lot.

It rained just about every day this week and me and Elder Ladereche got sick and had to stay at home for two days. Well, two afternoons. This sickness wasnt going to keep us from helping Maria Eduarda to be baptized. We only left at night those two days. But we are doing a lot better. My hand is also doing a lot better and I am just about back to normal. There will probably be a little scarring but a lot less than I thought.

We had a zone activity today at the church and played dodgeball and basketball and then ate hambergers to celebrate the 4th of July! It was way fun and the sun even came out for an hour to let us really enjoy it. It was great to be with the zone and to just relax for a while and play around with everyone. And I realized one thing. I AM SO OUT OF SHAPE. I played little bit of basketball and I was dying after like 5 minutes. It was so sad. But we still had a great time. Go America!

Well, I hope you enjoy your time in Europe! I bet its so cool there. I hope you know that you are all in my prayers. Give Syd the biggest hug in the world for me. Shes the best. Oh, and if you can, can you buy me a sweet keychain and a baseball while youre there? Thanks.

I cant believe that the time has come for Syd to finish her mission! Time has flown by way to fast. Give syd a huge hug for me when you see her and tell her that she is the best. I never got to see her as a missionary or talk to her but I know that she was a great missionary because of her testimony and love of the gospel. She is a huge example to all of us.

This week was crazy! We have a saying in our mission that is ´Fogo nos ossos!´ That means Fire in the bones! Well, this week I really had fire in my bones. Last Monday I decided that we needed to make a cake for our ward mission leader and his family. So we got everything ready and I turned on the stove. Now, our stove is pretty old so when you turn in on you have to turn on the gas and then reach in with a lighter to get the fire going. So I did that and then I left the kitchen. Well, while I was gone the fire went out. But the gas was still going. So I came back and saw it after five mintues and without thinking, reached in with the lighter to light it again. What I forgot was that the whole oven was full of gas and the gas was still on. The minute I lit the flame, a huge ball of fire hit me in the chest and rolled up my face. I thought that I was on fire so I started hitting myself like a mad man. When I realized that I wasnt on fire, I thought that the shirts that were drying behind me were on fire. But they werent. When I realized that the house was ok and that nothing caught fire, thats when I started to feel the pain in my hand and on my face. We ended up having to go to the hospital and I found out that I had second degree burns on my hand and nose. It hurt so bad. But things are healing up now and I am back in action. I do know that the Lord watches over his servants. It was a miracle that I didnt get burnt more or worse than I did. But now I can officially say that I have ´Fogo nos ossos!´

We had our last zone conference with Pres and Sis Cordon this week. It was so good and I am going to miss them so much. I gave Pres Cordon a huge hug at the end and he said, We´ll see you in a few months! They really want to come to my homecoming. I love them and will miss them a ton.

We are going to have 2 baptisms this week! Cesar has now gone 9 days without smoking and he is still going strong. The members are helping him a lot and they are planning everything for his baptism. We also have Maria Eduarda who is a 9 year old daughter of a less active member that we are helping to come back to church! I love baptisms!

I did get to watch the meeting last night. Let me just say that this work is going forward and fast. It was such a good meeting and I loved every minute of it. I sat next to our ward mission leader and he just kept telling me that he has a lot of work to do haha. I love that man. I just wanted to share with you some of the thoughts that I had during the meeting. The Lord has called more servants to the work just like he did in Jacob 5:61 and these servants are being prepared to teach the gospel and bear testimony of the restoration. While these servants are bing prepared to teach, the people that they will teach are also being prepared by angels (Alma 13:24). These angels are the members of the church. I loved that video of the family praying and then all going out and doing missionary work. Can you imagine if every family in the church did that? This work would be so different. Thats the way that this work needs to be. I know that the members have power. They can help so many people. These are perilous times (2 Timothy 3:1-5) and the world needs the message that we have. Only the message of the restoration will save the world. There are so many people doing wrong things. Even the members of the chruch. But we need to be examples of the believers (1 Timothy 4:12) and build our foundation upon the rock of our Redeemer (Helaman 5:12). I know that if we do this we will be a light for the world and people will see that we are different. There is nothing better than feeling the joy of doing missionary work. I know that we have what the world needs. We just need to open our mouths and preach the gospel with vigor and vim (That was for you mom). I love this gospel and I know that we are on the right path. Lets go out there and get our brothers and sisters who have let go of the iron rod and bring them back to the path that leads to eternal life. I know this is the work of God and that He will bless us for doing it. He has given us this great opportunity to help Him in His work. And NOW is the time that we need to do it. (Alma 34:32)

I love you!Love, Élder Trevor Taylor

This is my cute little burnt nose and lips. I only took a picture a few days after it happened because the other ones were really ugly!

After getting home from the hospital...Ouch!

Man I love tacos!! This was a couple of hours before the oven exploded!

This is my hand this morning. A week after the incident. It doesn't show up well on the picture though!

This is us making cake with the great Cesar. He is going to be baptized this week! Wooooot!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Congrats on the graduation! Man, mom and dad are getting old. 3 kids graduated from high school and only 3 more to go! Way to go Scotty. Youre the man.

We had transfers today! Elder Eddington was transferred and will train a new missionary. I will stay here in Boa Vista for at least 6 more weeks and my new companion is....Elder Ladereche! He is from Uraguay and has only been out for about 6 months. Yes, I have been out for a year longer than him. I was his zone leader when he started his mission when i was in Ala 2. He is a great missionary and is very humble. We are going to get along great. I am really excited to be his companion. During the transfer meeting, the missionaries that are going home usually get up and bear their testimonies. Well, this time Pres. and Sis. Cordon got up and bore theirs. It was so sad and I am going to miss them so much. But they are going to be here for 3 more weeks so we will get one last zone conference with them. I love them so much and I have been so blessed to have them as ´my parents´ out here.

This week was really good. We had a GREAT ward activity on Saturday night. It was soup night! A bunch of the ladies in the ward brought soup for everyone to eat and we all just had a great time. There were about 100 people there and 10 of them were investigators. We were able to talk to all of them and get their addresses. There was so much soup and so many members. It was so fun and everyone had a good time. We are working really well with our new ward mission leader. He is one of the best men that i know and I love him. He loves the missionaries and is willing to do anything for us. The only problem with the soup night was that I ate so much that I got home and threw everything up! It wasnt as good the second time that I tasted it....

We saw a real life miracle happen this week. We are teaching a man named Cesar and his whole family is members and he has been coming to church for the last 2 years. The only reason that he hasnt been baptized yet is because he wont stop smoking. Well, he never accepts baptismal dates but yesterday we went to his house to talk to him and see how is was doing. Well, during the lesson we both got a really strong feeling that we needed to mark a baptismal date with him. So I said, ´Cesar, you know the blessings from being a member. Its time to get those blessings. ´ He just stared at me and I said, ´On June 29th we will have a baptismal service. YOUR baptismal service.´ Then I just sat there and let him think about it. He thought for a good 5 minutes in silence and then looked up at me and said, ´Mark my baptism for the 29th.´ I just about cried. It was so cool. He finally accepted a date and his whole family was there in the room. We´re gonna have to work hard with him for this one but I know that he will be baptized on the 29th. The same day that I got my mission call 2 years ago!

I just want you all to know that I know that miracles are real. We just need to have faith, be in tune with the spirit and act on the promptings that we receive. I know that we have angels out here helping our investigators. I know that we are being protected by our loving Heavenly Father. I know that this is the only true gospel on the face of the earth. So lets share it with everyone.

Love,Élder Trevor Taylor

Sponge Bob plant!

Jesus is everywhere!

The Ten Commandments - keep 'em!

Dad - this is one of the mixers that they use in Brazil. Is it the same kind that you lost your finger in? I think about you every time I see one! Ha ha! I love you!

DAD IS STAKE PRESIDENT???????? So I just about wet myself when I read that. But I am not shocked one bit. Natalie said that dad is the most humble man that she has ever met. I would have to agree with that 100%. Dad, you are going to be a great Stake President. I love you so much. Thank you for being such a great example for me. I never told you this but I had a dream while I was in the MTC that Dad was called as Stake President. Pretty cool how the Lord really does know all.

This week was so good. We had the last mission counsel before the big split and it was really good. It was actually just a normal counsel but they told us to get ready for some big changes with the next transfer. Which is next week! Its crazy how fast time is flying by. But its going really well.

I did a division in Colombo this week with the Elders there. While we were there, we visited a family whos son had died two days before. He was 12 years old and the only member of the family that wasnt baptized. He was being taught by the missionaries and choked on some cake and died last Sunday. We were talking to the dad and he just cried the whole time. But he said one thing that has been on my mind this whole week. He said that at the funeral, he got a text from a friend that helped him a lot. It was just a short little message but it made all the difference. That instantly made me think of a scripture in Alma 43:48. In portuguese it says that the men of Moroni were scared and about to run away but Moroni sent them inspired messages (in english it doesnt say messages) that helped them to stay strong and keep going. I have been thinking about that a lot this week. A lot of people need a message like that to help them to keep going or to comfort them. And we as members of the church have that message. Its a message of hope and joy. We need to share that with everyone. I know that God has a plan for each of us and that we know that plan. In Kaysville there arent many people that dont know that plan. But there are a lot who have forgotten about it. Scott, I am so proud of you for standing up for what you believe in. The world needs a lot more Scott Taylors. I want to invite each of you that read this email to share your testimony with someone that is going through a tough time this week. It could be face to face or just a small text. No effort is useless. I know that the Lord will give you a chance to share your testimony with someone that needs to hear it. Just go and do. The Lord will help you.

I also want to invite you all to do two other things. 1. President Monson invited us all to give genorous donations to the General Missionary Fund this last conference. DO IT. With all the missionaries that are being called, a lot of them dont have the money to pay for a mission. Please help them. 2. Pray and maybe fast for the missionaries to get their visas to come to Brazil. We need them here. Just think. There are over 70 Scott Taylors waiting for their visas just to come to Curitiba. There are a lot more waiting to go to the rest of Brazil. We need them here to keep the work going!

I love you all and I am so proud of all of you. I know that Dad was called of God and that Mom was also called. She may not have the calling but Dad would be nothing without her ;) I know that we have the best parents in the world!

I love you!

Love,Élder Trevor Taylor

With Pres. and Sis. Cordon at our last Zone Council

I did an interview in Colombo while I was there and I took the man's cigarettes from him. then I destroyed them in front of him. He loved it! So, I kept the box to always remember!

Now that Dad's the Stake President, do you think he'll get to meet the new seventy?? E. Gifford Nielsen??